Perspectives on the beautiful game of soccer; fueled by enormous amounts of coffee

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

First Calls

Admit it - you can't wait until Jurgen Klinsmann reveals his first U.S. national team roster.

I can't either.

It could either be a completely different new set of names or a lot of the old standbys. Or a mix of both. Since it's an international fixture date, Klinsmann won't be limited with his choices. He will have carte blanche to select the squad of his liking.

But who will that include?

Some faces I would include right off the bat...

* Brek Shea. In case you hadn't noticed - and Bob Bradley hadn't - Brek Shea is having an MVP-type season with FC Dallas. He'd get my vote for MVP if I had to vote right now. Shea is a bit of a mystery player though as both Bradley and FC Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman have tried him out at different positions, but Shea is the kind of player who you just throw in there, give free reign to and watch him perform magic. Shea has scored some tremendous goals this season and can do the same with the national team, if given a chance. His lone chance to prove his worth was in a drab match against Colombia a season ago and was sadly nowhere near the Gold Cup squad when the roster was announced in May.

* George John. A teammate of Shea's in FC Dallas, John is what Oguchi Onyewu used to be - a great hope in central defense. John is a physical presence in the center of the defense and anchors one of the top defenses in MLS. He's also eligible to play for Greece. If he doesn't get a call soon for the U.S., he could very well opt for Greece and has expressed interest in doing so anyway. John could give the Americans a physical presence in central defense that, combined with players like Omar Gonzalez, Clarence Goodson and, my personal choice in Chad Marshall, could offer Klinsmann a wealth of new options to try out.

* Joe Corona. A major reason why Xoloitzcuintles of Tijuana reached the Mexican First Division was the LA-born, San Diego-raised Joe Corona. The right-sided midfielder has scored some good goals in his brief career and was singled out by LA Galaxy coach Bruce Arena as Xolos' best player in a friendly in March - even though Arena did not know Corona was American. Corona is eligible for three countries - El Salvador, Mexico, the U.S. Probably best to bring Corona in now than to risk losing him to Mexico (Corona has expressed no interest in playing for his mother's birth nation of El Salvador).

* Jose Francisco Torres. Yes, JFT made the World Cup squad, but he barely got a sniff of the field in South Africa. Bradley's preferred choices of Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark, along with Benny Feilhaber and Maurice Edu, were the ones who saw the field, and Jermaine Jones has since been brought into the central midfield puzzle. Torres, though, was always a player who was going to be difficult to squeeze into a Bradley formation. Klinsmann could get the best out of Torres, a pacy, creative player who could add some spark to the team.

Any other young or overlooked players you'd like to see Klinsmann bring in right away?